''𝘿𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙝?''
𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘆𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘂𝗽, 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗸𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘂𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺. It was only when I had heard my door being shoved open, that it hit the wall behind it making me shoot up. I wasn't the only one who was still asleep, Moose and Faris were also asleep, and shooting up at the same time I was.
Groaning, I rubbed my eyes as I felt Moose fall back asleep with his head leaning into my side. Looking at the door – which was still wide open – I had found nobody there, because the sudden presence was now at my desk.
''Hermione, what the hell are you doing, rummaging through my desk?'' I asked with a raspy voice. She had been pulling out drawers then slamming them shut again, making more noise then the door had.
'"My book! You took it from me, remember?'' Hermione said, quite angrily. I pursed my lips to hold in my laugh as Hermione shot me a glare, secretly asking where her book was.
''Do you mean that one?'' I asked, pointing over to the windowsill that the old looking, brown, leather book sat on. Hermione instantly snatched it and stormed out of the room, thankfully, closing my door on the way out. It wasn't pleasantly though.
I fell back onto my pillows, bringing the blanket up to my chin. Moose had crawled under the blanket as he came up into my arms and snuggled into the blanket with me. Faris was sitting peacefully on the desk, with his head hung down and his eyes closed. Everything was peaceful in my room, quiet without a sound.
My window was opened slightly, so when the wind came blowing around outside I got a cool breeze in my room, which felt quite nice. I was starting to drift off back to sleep, until the worst sound in my whole world had started, startling all three of us. I groaned, walking up to my window and throwing it open.
I stuck my head out the window, looking to the left of where our house sat, towards our neighbors. Buck was outside, sitting on the front fence pose. When I scanned the block, some people had been up, watering their garden that most people had out front. Others were sitting in the sun or most likely in their house or at work. Faris also came over to the window, sitting on the windowsill as he looked out the window.
When he caught sight of the rooster standing on the fence post, the very rooster that had awoken him, he narrowed his eyes. Faris was slightly hunched down, ready to take off after the rooster if I had say anything about it.
''Not today, Faris. Speaking of, what is today?''
As if on que, mum had walked into the room without knocking. That's the problem with this family, they never knocked on the door, they always just walked in. Thank the lord, they at least knocked when someone was in the bathroom. Mum was in her work clothes, which were appropriate clothes for a dentist, which dad was mostly likely in also.
''It's September first. Get your stuff packed and get dressed.'' She told me before walking back out and closing the door. Since they don't knock, I guess they try to make it up by closing the door behind themselves.
It really was September first, it was a little nerve racking. I was basically transferring schools, not just because one of magical and one isn't. Huffing, I walked over to my closet and pulled out a casual outfit, which consisted of jeans, white tank top, with a yellow hoodie over it. I didn't do anything with my hair, just brushed it and kept it that way.
I walked over to my bed, where Moose had been trying to play with Faris, but he kept waddling away from the pup.
''Alright, Moose. You have to stay here, I'll be back, I promise.'' I told the dog. I couldn't tell if the dog could understand me or not, but when he sat down on my bed with a prideful look on his face, I took it that he had understood.
I packed up the rest of my books and clothes in my trunk that I had, it was like a huge suitcase, and heavy. Since I didn't have much things to bring to school, I just stuck with a couple books that I had and the clothes, along with a couple small boxes that held jewelry in them. Unlike Hermione, I wasn't a complete nerd nor a competent bookworm. I had a few good books that I liked to read here and there, but overall I haven't read much.
Opening Faris' cage, I grabbed a frozen rat from a box they had been kept in. Eeylope said that he had been feeding Faris, frozen rats and owl treats the whole time he's been there, so that's what I stuck with. I had a box or two of owl treats in my trunk for when we're at school, yet I wonder if he'll just eat any of the other pets that he sees lying around.
''Y/n, hurry! The train will leave soon!'' I heard mum call from below. Rushing around my room, I quickly got Faris into his cage and closed my trunk so I could push it down the stairs. I turned back to Moose, to see him sitting on my bed like a good dog. I walked up to him and placed a small kiss upon his head before leaving the room.
The trunk was heavy, I had the bird cage that Faris was in, and I had to put on my shoes before I walked out the door. For once, I had actually found a clean, matching pair of socks and I was quite proud of myself for this accomplishment. Since there wasn't any living things in my trunk, and my expensive and very valuable jewelry were stuffed in small, nicely kept boxes at the bottom of the trunk, under all my clothes. I decided to just push the trunk down the stairs.
With every step of the stairs the trunk had went, with a loud thudding noise that went faster and faster the closer it got to the ground. When it had finally reached the floor, I raced down as quickly as I could without shaking the bird cage too much. I almost slipped a few times, since I was wearing socks at the time and even if the stairs had carpet over them, they were still slippery.
''Y/n, come on!'' Mum yelled again.
''I'm coming!'' I answered back this time. Leaving my trunk at the bottom of the stairs, I rushed into the kitchen and grabbed a piece of toast, shoving it into my mouth. Then, I walked over to the front door and sat on the floor while putting on my black high-top converse, which was a little bit of a pain when my toast kept threatening to fall from my mouth.
''Where's your trunk?'" Hermione asked, just now noticing that it currently wasn't here.
''Bottom of the stairs.'' I simply stated, starting to get my other shoe on. Mum huffed as dad left to go grab my trunk from where I left it after I pushed it down the stairs. I had a last bite of toast that I held in my mouth as I tied my shoelaces, only for it to fall out mid-way. Expecting it to fall on the floor, was exactly what I was thinking, until Faris reached his head out slightly and caught in in his beak, eating the piece.
''I hope it was good.'' I said to him with a slight glare. I liked my food a lot, never sharing. It was a weird habit of mine, but once someone touched my food I didn't want it. It just didn't feel like my food anymore after that.
''Alright, are we all ready?'' Dad asked, coming back with my trunk in his hand.
''Yes, just take care of Moose while I'm gone.'' I stated to my parents, as mum locked the door when we stepped out and Dad walked over to the car to stuff our trunks in the back.
''Yes, yes we'll take care of the dog.'' Mum responded, opening the drivers door before hopping in. I went around the car to go hop into the passengers seat, before dad said nope and slightly pushed me to the side.
I sat on the left side of the car, always staring out the window without a care in the world. Of course, I had seen all of this before. The skyscrapers, factories, sulking people, rainy streets and even sometimes that little moment that makes reality look like an actual black and white movie. Just, looking out at the world from the window, it feels like giving a new perspective on life. If that makes any sense, whatsoever.
Faris was sitting patiently in his cage, which sat on the seat next to mine. He was also looking out the window like I was, maybe he thought the same as I did. I could faintly hear the sounds of the trains coming to a stop on the tracks, the bells and signals, the man that came stepping out of the train saying 'All aboard!', always reminded me of the Polar Express movie.
People only usually use the trains to get from one country to another, every now and then it's just to get to work. Using the train system was quite expensive at these times, so I couldn't blame anyone if they hadn't decided to take the train this morning. When the car stopped and Dad opened his door to step out, mum had followed his actions. They both shut their doors simultaneously, as did Hermione and I but a little slower.
''Alright, here's your trunks. Do you girls have everything?'' Mum asked with a slightly concerned face. Maybe she was fully concerned? I couldn't really tell, since I could really care less at the moment. I only wanted to get onto the platform that took me to the magical school, then I could find out more history behind this whole 'odd wand choosing' business. We're Hermione and I the only ones who knew this?
''Be good. Behave. Write if you need anything, they said send a letter by owl. I'm sorry we can't see you girls off, but we have an emergency at the office at the moment.'' Dad had spoke, standing up straight and wiping off the bit of dirt that got left on the end of his jacket.
''No promises.'' I mumbled. Hermione nudged me in the side with her elbow, turning back to mum and dad with a nod. With a quick nod back, they rushed back into the car saying they had a really big emergency, and the people at the office wouldn't stop calling them over and over. They were pretty high up in the ranks at the dentistry.
''Alright, let's go.'' Hermione waved her hand for me to follow, turning around and heading into the station. There were people walking around everywhere, it was hard to even step through the front doors. ''Where did he say we go?''
''Platforms nine and ten. Run into the wall, and then your at platform 9¾.''
''Okay, and if that doesn't work?'' Hermione turned to me with a worried look.
''We break our noses.'' I casually shrugged. I'm pretty sure some of the people that passed by us, were looking at us weird. We continued making our way slowly down the station, only stopping when we had been standing in-front of the wall, with the black signs that had both nine and ten in white on either side.
''You first.'' Hermione volunteered myself. I rolled my eyes, not too worried about it since it was magic. Grabbing onto my trolley – which had my trunk and Faris in his cage on it – I ran towards the wall with my eyes screwed shut. If I did happen to run into the wall, I didn't want to see the faces of the people around me when I fell over.
A small breeze went by, and I was still standing. I could feel my hands still gripping onto the handle bar of my trolley, so I slowly opened my eyes to see another station but a little less crowded then the one I was on previously. There was a big red steam train on the tracks, on the front and sides 'Hogwarts Express' written in golden lettering.
Looking around the station I saw families of all sorts, and yet they were all witches and wizards. Mother's and fathers were telling their kids goodbye as they got into the train, tears visible in each of their eyes. Hermione had finally came through, coming to a short stop next to me.
''What took you so long?''
''I hesitated.'' She simply stated.
''Of course you did.'' I chuckled, slowly shaking my head. ''Let's get on the train before it leaves us behind.'' I started walking towards the train, past all the families that gave me some weary looks because of Faris, who kept flaring at everyone we had passed.
I wish I could've brought Moose, but I know that the staff at Hogwarts are probably going to have a problem with him, so I decided to leave him at home. It was the safest decision. Once Hermione and I got onto the train, we walked down the isle looking for an empty enough compartment to sit in.
There were many people on the train, I was starting to wonder how the train could fit all these people. But I got the same answer every time: magic. Most people we passed were actually in our year, others were in years above. Let's just say this did some, terrifying things in their compartments. I'm not going into detail.
''Here, let's sit here.'' Hermione pointed to an empty compartment, which was located near the middle of the train. I nodded, walking into the compartment after Hermione had, and placed my trunk on the rack that sat above the seats.
''Another year of school.'' I sighed.
''But this one is different, this is a magic school. And a plus, no Dudley as far as I've seen.'' Hermione stated, leaning forward slightly to reassure me.
''Oh, don't give up my hope, sis.'' I playfully rolled my eyes. She laughed along with me, leaning back in her seat again. I unlocked the cage that Faris had been kept in, as he jumped out and settled himself on the table which had a perfect view out the window.
The train whistle went off, making Hermione jump a little. We were finally being pulled out of the station, heading to wherever the school had been located.
''Hermione.'' I pipped up after a couple of minutes. She hummed, still looking down at the book she had pulled out just mere moments ago. ''What if. . .'' I trailed off, collecting my breath. ''What if we aren't magical? What if Hagrid made a mistake and we're just-'' I sighed, not wanting to continue ranting.
I leaned my head back against the seat, staring at the ceiling of the compartment. Hermione looked at me with a worried look, she knew I always likes to overthink things, even if it's the simplest of answers. Anxiety hits hard when you overthink everything. Hermione put a bookmark in her book, closed it and placed it on the side table. She got up and sat back down next to me.
''We are magical, or else how did we get onto the platform?'' She asked. She also had a good point, but I was still weary about the subject.
''Magic?'' I answered with a small smile.
''Exactly. Now don't worry about it, we are magical and are meant to be here. Not at the public school where Dudley looks at you with heart eyes every second your in the same class as him.'' Hermione stated. I laughed at what she had said about Dudley, which wasn't completely wrong.
At that moment the compartment door had opened, in came a small boy with a worried look on his face, short black hair that came down over his forehead slightly. He was slightly chubby, but I couldn't blame him, we were only eleven.
''I lost my toad, have any of you seen him?'' He asked quickly. I almost couldn't comprehend what he had said. I looked to Hermione who looked back at me with a small shake of her head, and turned back to the boy.
''No we haven't, but we'll help you look.'' Hermione suggested.
''That would be great, thank you.''
''I'm Hermione Granger.'' She held out her hand for the boy, as he sat down next to me, panting. He must've been running up and down the train looking for his small toad, I get why he hasn't found it yet. The boy took her hand and turned to me.
''Oh, Y/n Granger, it's nice to meet you.'' I smiled kindly at the boy. He also seemed nervous, he wasn't the social type from what it looked like.
''N-Neville Longbottom.'' He shook my hand. I felt a little bad for the boy, he looked like he could pass out here and now.
''We'll help look for the toad, Neville. What's his name?'' Hermione asked.
''Trevor. I've looked in only a couple of compartments so far.'' He said.
''It's alright, we'll split up.'' I stated. ''Hermione, you and Neville go up towards the front of the train and I'll head towards the back.'' Hermione nodded at my plan, walking up to the door before turning back towards me.
''Are you sure you don't need help?'' She asked.
''Nope, I have Faris.'' I turned around and Faris had landed himself on my shoulder. Somehow, whenever he had landed on me, his talons never seemed to hurt. They just gently touch my shoulder.
''Alright, make sure he doesn't eat the poor thing.'' Hermione reassured before walking out with Neville. I followed their actions, stepping out the door and closing it behind me. All of our things are in this compartment, so if anybody goes around looking for one they won't take it because people are already sitting here.
''Faris, we're looking for a toad. But you can't eat him.'' I told the eagle that sat on my shoulder. He seemed to give me a sad look when I told him he didn't get the pleasure of eating the small green amphibian. ''I'll get you a rat once we get back to the compartment if you help.'' He seemed to lighten up a little at this news.
Some seen it as weird, others seen it as peculiar, everyone seen it as scary when they seen an eleven year old walking down the train with a huge eagle on their shoulder. Because everyone on the train either had a cat, owl, toad, rat or no pet at all. I had yet to see the toad, or hear him, which was a little surprising because of how loud the things are.
Faris' head suddenly snapped to a direction ahead of us, I looked at the eagle curiously and followed his gaze. He had found the toad hopping around on the ground in-front of a compartment door. I walked towards him slowly, now wanting to scare him and make him jump away. When I got close enough, I went to grab the toad, only to miss and for him to squeeze through the little space where the door had been left open.
Rushing over to the door, I almost stumbled over when I opened the door. What I didn't do, was check if anybody was in the compartment. I was stood in the doorway, my hand on the doorframe, as I looked at the six people that sat in the compartment. Two of them were chubby with short hair, and had a weird representation of a troll. One of them was a girl, who had short black, bobbed hair, her face was a little squished up like a pug, maybe a pig?
One of them had black curly hair, quite unkept but it looked good on him. He was also leaning up against the person next to him, who was dark skinned and who looked just slightly taller then I was. I didn't recognize any of these people, not at first, until I reached the last person who had been sitting in the compartment.
The blonde hair and pale skin, along with the black fancy clothes he wore weren't anything new compared to what I had seen in the Tailors. He glared at me once I stumbled my way through the door, only to stand in the doorway. I glared back, the others probably feeling the tension between us.
''Anyway. . .'' I started, finally averting my gaze off of him. ''Have any of you seen a toad come in here, like just a couple seconds ago?'' I asked. They all looked at each other with confused gazes, only shaking their head in the end. With a sigh and a short 'alright then', I started to walk out.
''Wait–'' Someone in the compartment called out. I turned back around to face them, not knowing exactly who had called me back. ''That isn't an owl, is it?'' The black haired boy asked. He seemed pretty intrigued, as he started to lean off the person next to him.
''No it's not. Philippine Eagle is what he is.'' Faris looked at me at the mentioning of him.
''Wicked. Can I–?'' He gestured to the eagle. I nodded at him, knowing Faris wouldn't harm him unless I had said so. The boy quite literally jumped from his seat, knocking the person that sat next to him in the chin with his elbow. When the boy went to reach out to pet Faris, the eagle had leaned back slightly.
I gave the eagle a look of reassurance, before he let the boy touch his head. I'm pretty sure Faris wanted to bite his fingers off, but I wouldn't let him.
''This is amazing. Zabini, how about you come try.'' He spoke to the person he had previously elbowed. Zabini, who I am now calling him because there are tons of guys in this compartment, had gave him a weird look, before wearily standing up and walking over.
''He's not going to bite. I promise.'' I said to reassure the boy. He nodded and reached his hand out to pet Faris' head. The eagle had settled a little, but was still not liking the fact that he had other people petting him.
A small noise sounded from the other side of the compartment, the very sound I was looking forward to hearing. I couldn't spot the small toad, but Faris had spotted him and flew off my shoulder. The eagle quickly flew over to the side table that was sat in-front of the window, where the toad had sat, and grabbed the toad between his talons.
''There he is.'' I said, as Faris flew back over with Trevor in-between the talons of his right foot. When I looked back up at the people in the compartment, the girl had jumped and was now squeezing the arm of the blonde beside her. ''Now that's disgusting.'' I commented at the two.
''Your disgusting. Now that you have the ugly green thing, why don't you take your leave out the door?'' He replied. I raised my hands in surrender and left out the door backwards. Before I closed the door, I could hear the black haired boy said 'Way to go, Malfoy' while slow clapping.
I had found the toad, making sure Faris hadn't squeezed the life out of him. Now walking back to the compartment, trying to find Hermione and Neville. Luckily, they were in the compartment and when I had entered, Neville was sulking in his seat, missing his pet toad.
''Guess who I found.'' I pipped from the door. Both of them looked up at me, Neville suddenly having a bright smile come across his face.
''Trevor!'' He shouted come up to slowly take the take away from Faris. ''Thank you, thank you, thank you.'' Neville repeated. I was just happy that he was happy, he really was a sweet kid and I didn't ever want that to change.
''Where did you guys get to?'' I asked them.
''I found a compartment with two other boys. Harry Potter is in our year!'' Hermione pipped up. Neville also looked a little shocked, but he probably already knew about that.
''Who–'' I started, confused. ''Who the hell is Harry Potter? Does my little sister finally have a crush?'' I teased. She gasped at me.
''For one, he isn't my crush! And also, he is famous around the magical world!'' Hermione started shouting again.
''Alright, alright. Ouch.'' I rubbed my ears, that were now slightly stinging from all her shouting.
''Hey, guys.'' Neville pipped up from his seat next to the window. I placed Faris back into his cage with a rat, like I had promised him earlier.
Hermione and I looked out the window, where Neville had been staring out. Hermione gasped and I stared out slack-jawed and wide-eyed. Upon a huge hill was a stone castle, which was supposedly the school. The moon had also came up and shine dramatically down on the stone walled building. It was quite majestic, and I knew this would be better then any other school I've been too.
''Let's learn magic.'' I stated, exiting the compartment quickly.